diff --git a/src/core/lib/surface/completion_queue.c b/src/core/lib/surface/completion_queue.c
index b7109c4..1329dec 100644
--- a/src/core/lib/surface/completion_queue.c
+++ b/src/core/lib/surface/completion_queue.c
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@
 static void cq_init_next(void *ptr) {
   cq_next_data *cqd = (cq_next_data *)ptr;
   /* Initial count is dropped by grpc_completion_queue_shutdown */
-  gpr_atm_rel_store(&cqd->pending_events, 1);
+  gpr_atm_no_barrier_store(&cqd->pending_events, 1);
   cqd->shutdown_called = false;
   gpr_atm_no_barrier_store(&cqd->things_queued_ever, 0);
   cq_event_queue_init(&cqd->queue);
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@
 static void cq_init_pluck(void *ptr) {
   cq_pluck_data *cqd = (cq_pluck_data *)ptr;
   /* Initial count is dropped by grpc_completion_queue_shutdown */
-  gpr_atm_rel_store(&cqd->pending_events, 1);
+  gpr_atm_no_barrier_store(&cqd->pending_events, 1);
   cqd->completed_tail = &cqd->completed_head;
   cqd->completed_head.next = (uintptr_t)cqd->completed_tail;
   gpr_atm_no_barrier_store(&cqd->shutdown, 0);
@@ -643,6 +643,11 @@
   /* Add the completion to the queue */
   bool is_first = cq_event_queue_push(&cqd->queue, storage);
   gpr_atm_no_barrier_fetch_add(&cqd->things_queued_ever, 1);
+
+  /* Since we do not hold the cq lock here, it is important to do an 'acquire'
+     load here (instead of a 'no_barrier' load) to match with the release store
+     (done via gpr_atm_full_fetch_add(pending_events, -1)) in cq_shutdown_next
+     */
   bool will_definitely_shutdown = gpr_atm_acq_load(&cqd->pending_events) == 1;
 
   if (!will_definitely_shutdown) {